Publications

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 49 million barrels of oil and 18 billion cubic feet of gas in the onshore and State waters part of the South Florida basin.

The degradation of coastal habitats, particularly coral reefs, raises risks by increasing the exposure of coastal communities to flooding hazards. The protective services of these natural defenses are not assessed in the same rigorous economic terms as artificial defenses, such as seawalls, and therefore often are not considered in decision making...

Surface water, sediment, and fish from Biscayne Bay, coastal wetlands adjacent to the Bay, and canals discharging into the Bay were sampled for determination of baseline contamination in Biscayne National Park. While the number of contaminants detected in canal waters was greater during the wet season than the dry season, no seasonal difference...

The man-made Florida playland of Walt Disney World has grown outward on all sides since the amusement park’s construction commenced in the 1960s. Much of that growth has overtaken the wetlands, tree cover and grassland/shrublands near Orlando.

The purpose of this work is to advance our understanding of how coastal wetland responses to sea-level rise (SLR) within the conterminous United States are likely to vary as a function of local, regional, and macroscale drivers, including climate. Based on our interactions with managers and decision makers, as well as our knowledge of the current state of the science, we propose to: (a)...

USGS is collecting remotely sensed data to classify Salvinia molesta, a non-native aquatic species that reduces light and oxygen levels in water, making it unsuitable for fish and other aquatic plant life.

Due to reduced funding, the May 2009 map will be the last publication of the Potentiometric Surface of the Upper Floridan Aquifer in the St. Johns River Water Management District and Vicinity, Florida unless additional funding sources are identified. Water-level elevations will still be measured semi-annually and published in the Annual Data Report as long as funding is available. The...

This study will contrast the extraction of DNA/RNA from aerosols collected with electrostatic precipitation (a relatively new collection method) with a common membrane filtration protocol to identify the most appropriate method for future regional and global scale aerobiology research projects.

The new structure-from-motion (SfM) quantitative underwater imaging device with five cameras (SQUID-5) was tested in July 2019 at Crocker Reef in the Florida Keys. The SQUID-5 was developed to meet the unique challenges of collecting SfM underwater imagery, including multiple cameras with different perspectives, accurate geographic locations of images, accurate and precise scaling of derived...

Domestic wells provide drinking water supply for approximately 40 million people in the United States. Knowing the location of these wells, and the populations they serve, is important for identifying heavily used aquifers, locations susceptible to contamination, and populations potentially impacted by poor-quality groundwater.

Structure-from-Motion (SfM) bathymetric maps were created using seafloor images collected using the new 5-camera system SfM Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with Five Cameras (SQUID-5). Images were collected during July 2019 by towing the SQUID-5 in 3 to 4 meters of water off of Islamorada in the Florida Keys during 3 days. The five cameras were synchronized together and with a surv

Underwater photos were collected using a new 5-camera system, the Structure-from-Motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with Five Cameras (SQUID-5). Images were collected in July 2019 by towing the SQUID-5 in 3 to 4 meters of water off of Islamorada in the Florida Keys. The five cameras were synchronized together and with a survey-grade Global Positioning System (GPS).

Georeferenced orthophotos were created from structure-from-motion (SfM) data using seafloor images collected using the new 5-camera system SfM Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with Five Cameras (SQUID-5). Images were collected in July 2019 by towing the SQUID-5 in 3 to 4 meters of water off of Islamorada in the Florida Keys during 3 days. The five cameras were synchronized together

Structure-from-Motion (SfM) point clouds were created from seafloor images collected using the new 5-camera system SfM Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with Five Cameras (SQUID-5). Images were collected in July 2019 by towing the SQUID-5 in 3 to 4 meters of water off of Islamorada in the Florida Keys during 3 days. The five cameras were synchronized together and with a survey-grade

The NWIS mapper provides access to over 1.5 million sites contained in the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), including sites where current and historical surface-water, groundwater, springs, and atmospheric data has been collected. Users can search by site type, data type, site number, or place.

The Water Level and Salinity Analysis Mapper is designed to conduct automated statistical and graphical analyses on water-level and salinity data collected from sites monitored by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in South Florida.

This part of the data release presents projected flooding extent polygon (flood masks) and flooding depth points (flood points) shapefiles based on wave-driven total water levels for the State of Hawaii (the islands of Hawaii, Kahoolawe, Kauai, Lanai, Maui, Molokai, Niihau, and Oahu). For each island there are 8 associated flood mask and flood depth shapefiles: one for

This part of the data release presents projected flooding extent polygon (flood masks) and flooding depth points (flood points) shapefiles based on wave-driven total water levels for the Territory of Puerto Rico (the islands of Culebra, Puerto Rico, and Vieques). For each island there are 8 associated flood mask and flood depth shapefiles: one for each four nearshore wave energy

This part of the data release presents projected flooding extent polygon (flood masks) and flooding depth points (flood points) shapefiles based on wave-driven total water levels for the State Florida (the Florida Peninsula and the Florida Keys). For each island there are 8 associated flood mask and flood depth shapefiles: one for each of four nearshore wave energy return periods %2

Domestic wells provide drinking water supply for approximately 40 million people in the United States. Knowing the location of these wells, and the populations they serve, is important for identifying heavily used aquifers, locations susceptible to contamination, and populations potentially impacted by poor-quality groundwater.

This data set consists of a detailed digital map of individual irrigated fields and a summary of the irrigated acreage for the 2017 growing season developed for Okeechobee County, Florida. Selected attribute data that include crop type, irrigation system, and primary water source were collected for each irrigated field.

Hurricane Irma, the most intense hurricane observed in the Atlantic in the last decade, approached the west coast of Florida on September 10th, 2017. This animation shows the precipitation and river conditions through time as Irma moved over the southeastern United States.

Network wells depicted on the Climate Response Network location mapNote: Color shading in the table below indicates multiple wells that plot as a single point on the state location map above.Note: BLS = Water Level in Feet Below Land Surface, RVD = Water Level referenced to a vertical datum

June 1 marks the beginning of hurricane season. Should storms arrive on the Louisiana coast, the people in coastal communities across the State, along with many Federal, State, and local agencies will need to know how the storms are affecting the coastal and low-lying areas.The USGS maintains an extensive network of coastal gages that provides critical time-sensitive water level.

The 3DEP products and services available through The National Map consist of standard digital elevation models (DEMs) at various horizontal resolutions, elevation source and associated datasets, an elevation point query service and bulk point query service. All 3DEP products are available, free of charge and without use restrictions.

The USGS Storm Tide Mapper is a tool for viewing, analyzing, and accessing storm tide data collected during and after hurricanes and Nor’easters. The USGS Storm Tide Mapper will continue to provide a unified and consistent source of real-time and archived storm-tide data.

The degradation of coastal habitats, particularly coral reefs, raises risks by increasing the exposure of coastal communities to flooding hazards. The protective services of these natural defenses are not assessed in the same rigorous economic terms as artificial defenses, such as seawalls, and therefore often are not considered in decision making...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 49 million barrels of oil and 18 billion cubic feet of gas in the onshore and State waters part of the South Florida basin.

There are three extant sirenian species of the Trichechidae family and one living Dugongidae family member. Given their close ties to coastal and often urbanized habitats, sirenians are exposed to many types of anthropogenic activities that result in challenges to their well-being, poor health, and even death. In the wild, they are exposed to...

Trichechus manatus (West Indian manatee), especially T. m. latirostris, the Florida subspecies, has been the focus of conservation efforts and extensive research since its listing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. To determine the status of, and severity of threats to, the Florida manatee, a comprehensive revision and update of the manatee...

The endangered manatee Trichechus manatus is one of few large grazers in seagrass systems. To assess the long-term impacts of repeated grazing on seagrasses, we selected a study site within Kennedy Space Center in the northern Banana River, Brevard County, Florida, that was typically grazed by large numbers of manatees in spring. Two 13x13 m...

Surface water, sediment, and fish from Biscayne Bay, coastal wetlands adjacent to the Bay, and canals discharging into the Bay were sampled for determination of baseline contamination in Biscayne National Park. While the number of contaminants detected in canal waters was greater during the wet season than the dry season, no seasonal difference...

We illustrate the utility of expert elicitation, explicit recognition of uncertainty, and the value of information for directing management and research efforts for invasive species, using tegu lizards (Salvator merianae) in southern Florida as a case study. We posited a post-birth pulse, matrix model, which was parameterized using a 3-point...

At the fringe of Everglades National Park in southwest Florida, United States, the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge (TTINWR) habitat has been heavily affected by the disruption of natural freshwater flow across the Tamiami Trail (U.S. Highway 41). As the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) proposes to restore the natural...

The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) is exposed to a number of anthropogenic influences, including metals, as they inhabit shallow waters with close proximity to shore. While maintaining homeostasis of many metals is crucial for health, there is currently no baseline reference range that can be used to make clinical and environmental...

This is a collection of data on the contamination of water, fish, and sediments in Biscayne National Park and in canals that discharge into the national park. The water data are estimations of their concentrations in water based on sampling with passive water samplers (semi-permeable membrane devices and polar organic chemical integrative samplers...

The Okaloosa Darter Etheostoma okaloosae is a small percid endemic to six stream drainages in northwestern Florida. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed Okaloosa Darters as endangered in 1973 and downlisted them to threatened in 2011 because of habitat improvements and increasing abundance across much of their geographic range. Delisting is...

Distributional limits of many tropical species in Florida are ultimately determined by tolerance to low temperature. An unprecedented cold spell during 2–11 January 2010, in South Florida provided an opportunity to compare the responses of tropical American crocodiles with warm-temperate American alligators and to compare the responses of...

This video highlights paleoecology and ecosystems restoration science being conducted by the USGS Florence Bascom Geoscience Center (FBGC). The video provides a brief introduction to how scientists research questions of freshwater availability and

This video highlights paleoecology and ecosystems restoration science being conducted by the USGS Florence Bascom Geoscience Center (FBGC). The video provides a brief introduction to how scientists research questions of freshwater availability and

This video explains how scientists from the Florence Bascom Geoscience Center research paleo-environmental wetland conditions and explain how studying these environments is valuable to better understand past changes and responses to disturbance, such as fire, sea-level rise, and permafrost

This video explains how scientists from the Florence Bascom Geoscience Center research paleo-environmental wetland conditions and explain how studying these environments is valuable to better understand past changes and responses to disturbance, such as fire, sea-level rise, and permafrost

This image is a cropped rendition of two aerial images that demonstrate satellite-derived cyanobacteria concentrations in surface waters from an area in Florida. The top image is true-color photograph, and the bottom image is from the Medium Resolution

Rigorously Valuing the Role of Florida’s Coral Reefs in Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction

Estimated Annual Benefits

Maps of Florida showing the distribution of the value of averted direct building damages, indirect economic activity losses, and population annually protected from flooding by coral reefs. Results at 10 m2 resolution are aggregated into

Scientists from the Florence Bascom Geoscience Center first sampled four islands in Florida Bay, Everglades National Park, in April 2014 to collect cores to study sea level rise and storm history in the region. In September 2017, Hurricane Irma (a category 4 storm at landfall in the Florida Keys) passed just to the west of our field sites. The western-most of the four

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge (EHNWR) is strategically located in Florida to protect upland and wetland habitats. The location of the new refuge was targeted to: address pressures from urbanization and climate change, provide improved quality of water flowing southward to the Greater Everglades, and protect

The Earth As Art project began in the early 2000s, and its original intent remains the same: to produce images that do not look like satellite images at first glance. Earth As Art shows not only what satellites capture in the visible wavelengths of light you and I can see, but also what’s hiding in the invisible wavelengths that Landsat sensors can detect in the infrared

A storm-tide sensor deployed on Florida's Indian River Lagoon, at Indian River Drive in St. Lucie County, on Aug. 30, 2019 in preparation for Hurricane Dorian. NOTE: Though the story is about the Carolinas, the photo is from Florida. No photos of the Carolinas deployment were available at the time this story was published.

The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area brings you Outstanding in the Field, a series of stories about our science, our adventures, and our efforts to better understand our fish and wildlife and the ecosystems that support them. In this episode we describe the USGS’s efforts to track frog populations in the southeast United States.

USGS participated in the the St. Petersburg Science Festival, an annual event held in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, that invites local schools and the science-interested public to come explore topics in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM).

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published Aug. 29 and was updated Aug. 30 and Aug. 31 to reflect changes in the number and locations of sensor deployments as Hurricane Dorian's forecast track changed.

To learn more about USGS’ role providing science to decision makers before, during and after Hurricane Dorian, visit the USGS Hurricane Dorian page at www.usgs.gov/dorian.

Xan Fredericks, Lidar Coordinator for the Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program and the USGS Co-Chair for the Florida Coastal Mapping Program (FCMaP), will co-host and help moderate the 2019 Northeast Florida Seafloor Mapping Prioritization Workshop on Tuesday, July 9, 2019, in Jacksonville, Florida.